By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
February 28, 1992
Miles Hunt ticks off a lot of people. He thinks the majority of record buyers are lazy, that Elvis is little more than a joke and that the media play right into the hands of bands that have next to nothing to offer artistically.
There are a lot of people who think Hunt is full of it, including Hunt himself, but the British vocalist for the Wonder Stuff doesn’t care. He’s just got to be him.
“After some interviews have run, people (who know me) have asked, `What were you thinking when you said that?’ ” said Hunt, whose band will open a couple of sold-out shows for Siouxsie and the Banshees tonight and tomorrow night at the Riviera. “I’ve been trying to control my mouth since I was a little kid and I haven’t been able to do it. So I don’t bother trying to anymore. But I think that a lot of people probably agree with at least 50 percent of what I have to say. I mean, doe sn’t everybody think that (U2’s) Bono is just a little offensive? They just don’t want to admit it publicly.
“Let’s face it. A lot of people are pretty stupid. They won’t bother trying to find music they might like. They’ll accept what’s given to them. That’s why Phil Collins is around. The public generally makes do with whatever is easy, which is why the New Kids on the Block are blocking up the airwaves and good stuff can’t get through. But (New Kid) Donnie Wahlberg is a guy who’s really funny and doesn’t even know it. I love watching him do interviews. It’s brilliant. He repeats everything six times, and it’s always something incredibly stupid.”
Not that the Wonder Stuff is above cranking out a stupid ditty every now and again. The difference is the musicians know what silliness is and revel in it. Some of their songs, such as “Size of a Cow,” are so ambiguous that even Hunt can’t explain what they mean. Others, like
“It’s Yer Money I’m After, Baby” and “Who Wants to Be the Disco King?” are self-explanatory. Then there’s the title of their current LP, “Never Loved Elvis.” “I never really liked Elvis very much – wrong era and country,” said Hunt. “I can’t understand how people get so cliched. You’d think they’d wake up, have a good belly laugh and then do something about it. But I thought he was funny. I liked the image of the crap Vegas years.”
The five-man band doesn’t discriminate against picking on its countrymen either. “Astley in the Noose” is a wicked song whose acerbic lyrics are aimed at the baby-faced, big-voiced pop crooner Rick Astley. If there’s any justice, Mariah Carey should be getting hers in the near future.
“Oh, we’ve got plenty of time to write about everybody,” he said, laughing. “I want to be like the Grateful Dead and be around for the next 30 years. I’d rather be them than the Rolling Stones, who pop up every five years. The Dead are consistent and trundle along.”
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Wonder Stuff
7:30 tonight and tomorrow night
Riviera, 4746 N. Racine
Sold out
